Your iPhone isn’t just something that’s nice to have — it’s something that can really make or break your mobile experience. Just because you have a shiny new iPhone doesn’t mean that you have to settle for just the stock features. Now, you might have already added new iPhone apps to your life, and that’s definitely a great start. However, if you really want to roll with the big boys, you need to make sure that you get a phone that really screams — and that means getting an iPhone with attitude. You want to get hardware accessories that are going to really make you feel like you’re holding onto something really great with the iPhone, not just something that you’ll want to get rid of in 6 months or less.

We hate to break it to you, but it’s really the accessories that make the iPhone worth having. Sure, you can go without a few accessories, but the truth is that you won’t have a great experience. The entire point of being able to let the iPhone control your world is that you won’t need to look too far beyond the phone in order to get things done. If you have to reach for your laptop, is there really a reason to have an iPhone? The key here is to be mobile, and mobile is definitely a good thing.

So let’s get down to business: just what accessories are we talking about? Here’s a list.

1. A Camera Lens!

Surprise! Your iPhone can be more camera than you might have realized at first glance. You see, you can get a nice telescopic lens for your camera. This will give you the ability to snap some really hot photos, and you can actually get better zoom than if you were to just stick to camera zoom on the phone. Whoever said that you just can’t use a mobile phone to get good pictures has never hooked up a telescopic lens to their iPhone. It’s one of the features that come standard with the iPhone 3G, so make sure that you check it out. A quick search for camera lenses on Amazon or anywhere will give you more details and pictures of lens that you might like. Generally speaking, a camera lens that attaches to the camera isn’t as expensive as you might imagine.

2. Headphones

Now, it might seem like headphone is a no brainer, but a lot of people ignore the fact that the iPhone is a great way to store music. Since you can go online with the phone, it makes sense that you will need headphones. You can order tunes right form the Music Store from Apple, and have it on your phone in a matter of seconds.

3. A Rockin’ Dock For Your ‘Phone

Let’s say that you’ve got a hot date that finally got back to your place. Do you actually want to try to fiddle with the home theater system instead of tending to your date? It’s so much easier to just pull out your iPhone deck and put in your iPhone. You’ll get good sound and you can even find them online for $150 or less — a great bargain when you think about the average home theater system setup!

4. A Pocket…Projector?

Yes, that’s right — a pocket projector. You can get one like the Optoma EP-PK-101 PICO, which is great for showing people presentations. These days, people are running businesses just about anywhere that you can think of. Instead of trying to drag around clunky equipment, this is a great accessory that really opens up the options that you have with your phone.
5. The Essential (and Waterproof!) Armband

If you really want to sweat it out and you want to take your iPhone with you, you need to get an armband. It’s just not hip to try to dig in your pocket while you’re trying to get your sweat on, you know? It’s much easier to reach over on the armband and move your hand over the protective casing of the armband to switch songs, or even to answer a phone call if you have a Bluetooth headset.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: hey, you left off [really great accessory]! How could you? Hey, we only have so much space. If we gave you 50 accessories, you wouldn’t want to read that big long list, would you? We didn’t think so. Another point is that you might read that list and think that these accessories are too expensive. However, they’re a great way to expand the functionality of your iPhone — which is something we think is well worth the price.

If there really is a whiz bang accessory that you think we should put here, sound off in the comments — we would love to hear from you!